James McCLEERY

1837-1871

McCLEERY, James, a Representative from Louisiana; born in Mecca Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, December 2, 1837; attended Oberlin (Ohio) College in 1859 and 1860; served in the Union Army during the Civil War; commissioned second lieutenant of Company A, Forty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1861, and promoted through the ranks to major in 1865; entered the Regular Army as captain in the Forty-fifth Infantry in 1866 and subsequently received the brevets of major and brigadier general of Volunteers; retired December 15, 1870, and settled in St. Marys Parish, La.; purchased a plantation; practiced law and was connected with the Freedmenâs Bureau in North Carolina and Louisiana; moved to Shreveport, La.; appointed superintendent of public education for the fourth division; elected as a Republican to the Forty-second Congress and served from March 4, 1871, until his death while on a visit in New York City November 5, 1871; interment in the Christian Church Cemetery, Cortland, Ohio.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present